The Grain of Wheat

[Ani]

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

 

“Except a corn ofwheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.“

 

The grain of wheat is the symbol of the human soul. It represents a great story in the development of nature. If you could unfold the leaves of the grain of wheat and trace out its history, you would completely understand the human soul. As the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, as it sprouts up, grows and bears seed, the same processes are true of the human soul. Probably the grain of wheat is something very simple and of no value to you, as it is only a sixteenth of a thousandth part of a kilogram. How much would a grain cost if a kilogram costs only one grosh? However, the grain of wheat contains a power, a potential and a spirit of selflessness, by which it nourishes both itself and others. And when you sit at table, you do not think at all about the grain of wheat, you do not know what joy and what thoughts it imparts to you. You do not know its origin. People do not value it, neither do the hens; no one values it. But it is a great mystery in the world.

 

Now, what lies hidden in this grain of wheat? It is an image of life. The Bulgarian word for it begins with the letter (j), which fully corresponds to the grain of wheat two legs below and two small branches above. When we sow it, it shows us the direction in which we must strive. The grain of wheat tells us that we must strive for the One from whom we have been issued God, and that in order to strive for God, we must branch out, blossom, and bear food for the world, i.e. “help and sacrifice yourselves for your friends, as I do”.

 

But in the grain of wheat there is more faith than in us. When it is buried in the ground it decays, but it understands the world of the sun, and as soon as its beams appear, it says: “I shall not die, but I shall rise again and bear fruit for others”, and it starts generating energy and strives for the sun. It bears fruit and ripens. But people do not leave it alone: they cut it down with the sickle; they bind it and pile it up, and trample upon it, and thresh it.

 

Human life passes through the same process. You may ask: “Why must we pass through all this process? “ Man must draw a lesson from this example of the grain of wheat. After the threshing-board and the horses’ hooves have threshed it, men take the grain and put it in the barn. But its sufferings do not end there. They sift the grains, and the bad ones fall below and the good ones which remain are taken to the mill, where two heavy mill-stones grind them and smash them completely. If you were in the grain’s place, you would say: “What kind of a life and what kind of a world has God created?” But the grain of wheat has great patience. It says: “You will yet see what my history is.” It is taken from the mill as flour and carried home, but still men do not leave it in peace. The wife rolls up her sleeves; the flour is sifted; some is thrown away, but the good is mixed with water and leaven and turned into dough. Then it goes into the hot oven, and when it is taken out, we see those nice fresh-smelling loaves of bread. If you were in the place of the grain of wheat, you would say: “Our sufferings have ended at last!” But in a short time people break up the loaves and start eating them. In this way the grain of wheat enters our stomach, forming nutrients which enter our minds, and what happens? Great thoughts are born in these minds and new desires in our hearts. The grain of wheat carries the garments which clothe our feelings, it flows in the pens of writers and poets, in the bow of the violin.

 

This is what the grain of wheat gives us. And if this grain had not passed through the process of this development, we would never see these beautiful things in nature. Why? Because the grain of wheat gives us strength to see. That is why Christ says: “I am the living bread.” In order to be alive, man must be in communion with his environment, helping others and being helped by them. As the grain of wheat passes through this process, so must we be ready for such self-sacrifice. And this sacrifice is not so heavy.

 

Now let us turn to the story of the life of Christ and of the Jewish nation. How do you explain this contradiction: a nation has been waiting for thousands of years for its saviour, its King who is to liberate it, and at the time that He appears the Jewish high-priests and princes turn against Him? You would say that, if Christ came today, we would behave better to Him.

 

I doubt it: see how a man behaves to his wife and how the wife behaves to her husband, and you will know how you would behave to Christ. When the Truth appears in the world, she will not be clothed richly, but rather in a most simple garb. That is why Christ appeared among the Jewish nation in such a simple fashion. That is the reason why people cannot comprehend the Truth. Such are the laws of this world.

 

But there is another law in the world which is manifested in the sunlight. When the sun begins to shine on all the seeds and beings on earth, the light, which produces joy and gladness in some men, produces hatred and spite in others. The light which makes some people well-disposed causes others to be fierce and violent. The light and heat cause a wolf to start looking for a sheep to satisfy his hunger. The same light falling on a thief causes him to think how to steal some money. If it falls on a man who is living to do good in his life, he will wonder where he can find a poor man whom he can help. Give a grain of wheat to a hen, and it will grow nice feathers; give it to a swine, it will produce strong bristles and so on: a wolf, teeth; a fish, scales. The physiologists cannot explain this process. It is inexplicable why evil exists in men and why they prefer hatred to love and falsehood to the truth.

 

Christ says that, if the grain of wheat fallen to the ground does not die, it will remain alone in this world. What really is loneliness? Loneliness is the greatest suffering that one can experience on earth. To be multiplied is the purpose of life. All suffering in the world comes from the fact that people want to live for themselves alone.

 

Evil is always born out of our wish to remain alone and become the centre of the world. For we should be like the sun: when the sun rises in the morning, it rises for everybody because it loves all; it is considerate to all beings from the lowest to the highest; that is why all turn their eyes to it. But does the sun say that we must enter it? It tells us to make use of the benefits it gives us; and just as it illuminates the world, so should we shed light and enlighten those around us.

 

We have some false ideas in our minds which spring from our individual lives. For instance, if you enter a house, which has a single window, but there are about twenty to thirty visitors, you will say to them: “You have no right to be here: I want to look through this window.” Yet while you are looking at the sun, all the other people are deprived of its light, so you should call them all and show them the way out of the house. That is why it is not good for a man to keep many people around him, since they cannot have the benefit of the sunlight and heat all at the same time. We must tell them to leave. That is whyJesus says: “He who loves himself must leave himself”; and at another place he says: “He who loves his father and mother more than Me is not worthy ofMe”. Thus, if a person gets too close to the window, he will shut out the whole view from the others. Keep yourself twenty to thirty steps farther off. That is the way to see it. In this way Jesus means that life does not consist of material benefits: they are only simple tools and aids, as are textbooks, pens etc. to a student. Do not think that God has prepared for you only these simple things: He has prepared much greater things. Ask the frog its idea of life, and it will answer: “I would like more flies to fly around my pond and come so near that I can catch them easily.” And when you see it sometimes sitting quiet like a philosopher, it is observing the flies, and whether they are near enough to catch. Such is its concept of life.

 

So you see what people are doing. In order to say: “We are made in the image and likeness of God,” we must have the qualities of God. What are these qualities? They are virtue, love, wisdom and truth. Virtue excludes evil, love excludes hatred, wisdom excludes senselessness, and truth excludes falsehood. If we have excluded all those negative qualities, we have the likeness of God, but if we do not do that, we are like the small frogs. I have nothing against these frogs: they must eat flies. And why do they eat flies? I shall tell you why. Since the fly lives in a higher state than the frog, the latter, aspiring to fly itself, wants to receive the vibrations of the fly, to develop them, and so become able to fly. Why does the wolf eat sheep? He must eat sheep to become gentle, for when we eat good things, we become good. Actors use this knowledge when wishing to play a role of ideal love. They eat mutton for a long time, for this kind of meat disposes one to such emotions. The wolf has the right to eat sheep, if he wants to become gentle.

 

Some people say: “We must think and criticise,” because science cannot exist without criticsim. It is good to, but how? Criticism, like energy when a diseased part of the human body is removed, is useful, but to remove the healthy parts of the body is out of the question. It is not difficult for anyone to be such a surgeon, for any man can take a saw and cut off someone’s leg, but few men know how to perform a surgical operation correctly. In order to learn how to do this, we must be ruled in all circumstances by the rule of love. When I speak about love do not think that I am teaching you a doctrine of peace and calm. A man who wants to love must experience the greatest sufferings in the world for he who has not suffered, cannot test the divine principle of love. In order to love God, we must be ready for sacrifice, just as God sacrifices Himself for us. To come to know Him, you say: “God, give us what we need.” “Give, give, give!” — this call can be heard from one end of the world to the other. But we do not need riches, only those basic things which make a good life. We have neglected the development of our hearts.

 

We must, therefore, go back to that fundamental principle, which is the development and ennoblement of the heart. Evil does not hide in the mind, but in the heart. Each one of us must ask his heart what it wishes. Our hearts have been corrupted by us, for many times we have made them lie, think evil, etc. God says in the Scriptures: “My son, give me your heart.” He knows and sees men’s faults and wants of us nothing other than the opening of our hearts so that He can enter them. You will ask: “How?” In the same way as we open a window for the light to come into our room. It is said: ‘A room, where light enters, is entered by neither sickness nor a doctor,” and: “Where light does not enter, the doctor never comes out.” In the same way, when God enters a human heart, no devil has admittance there.

 

Christ says: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Lay up your capital in Heaven, so that God may feed the poor on earth by its interest. It is not the angels who are working out our salvation, but we ourselves must do that. We have all the conditions to do it too. The law does not require all men to be learned to the same degree: each one must know as much as is necessary for him. Someone says: “My brain is small,” but I answer him: ‘ If you cannot take care of a small horse, how will you be able to take care of a bigger one; or, if you have a small heart and you cannot direct it, how would you direct a bigger heart with greater desires?”

 

What, then, must we do? We must not think about the future, but rather take advantage of all the benefits which this day offers us and use them for a good end, for this day carries with it all future benefits. The law states that God, who has given the conditions for this day, will give them for all other days. We should not think of what will happen to us in the future: we should be calm. There are certain laws which regulate human relations. The fact that someone may harm us is not an arbitrary act: it will be done according to the law. However, every misfortune will bring you a blessing, and every obstacle will open for you a new horizon. You can test this fact at all times, which is why you must not worry about the misfortunes which may befall you.

 

Evolution is necessary to us, much greater benefits are in store for us, but we must become quite intelligent and quite good, and this heritage will be entrusted to us when we grow mature. The three things I mentioned, virtue, righteousness and wisdom, are great riches, and when you possess them, you will be healthy and happy. But you will say: “ How can we apply this teaching in the world?” We are not obliged to set the world right: there are no abnormalities in it, for everything moves according to a set order. We know why economic or political events occur. It is not necessary for us to alter the flow of events. But I say that one thing is necessary: every person in the world, man or woman, should correct themselves individually. When the individual person is corrected, as well as their sons and daughters, then their neighbours will be corrected, and the world will be corrected of itself. As the leaven is, so will be the dough. This principle has been established by Christ, and Christ is working for its realisation. And just as the chrysalis starts its development, in the same way the world will be uplifted and changed for the better. There is great unrest in the world, because all those people who cannot form their own chrysalis are worried about how they will spend the winter which is coming. The transformation must therefore take place in our minds, in our hearts and in our wills, and when this happens we shall feel a certain inner power. Then we shall make contact with the higher beings who have advanced spiritually and whom we call saints. When we come into contact with them, our mind will be enlightened. The saints are the teachers of humanity, and we must all be guided by them, for they teach the world how to live.

 

But you will ask: “Where are these teachers, whose images we see in church?” Every object has a shadow by which we can find the object. Your desires in the world are a shadow, your aspirations too; you want to grasp the essence, so you just think of God.

 

How shall we imagine God? You can imagine Him as the best and perfect Man in whom there is absolutely no malice or hatred, who loves people as a real father loves his children — such is God’s attitude to us.

 

Now, do you think He is listening to us, or not? He is listening to us, and He is working in our minds. The good daily disposition we have is due to Him. Just as the sun makes us well disposed every day after rising, in the same way the happy moments in life are due to this inner sun which has risen in us. There is a rising and setting in the spiritual life as well. Those in whom God will rise will feel joy and gladness, but those in whom He will not rise will say: “Life is misfortune, sorrow and suffering for us” They must wait. Why? Because there are no conditions in them for this rising and if the sun rises in them prematurely, it will be a misfortune for them. It is better for them to rest now. I do not say that they are going to die, not in the least; I only state a law.

 

When speaking of rising and setting, everyone thinks of dying .... What is dying? This is a supposition. Each of you must have died in order to be able to tell what death is, but now you are only imagining it. In one of his stories Tolstoi tells of the experience of a Russian monk. The monk was eighty-five years old with a beard. The writer asked him: “What reasons compelled you to become a monk?” And the monk told his story, in short thus:

 

“I come from a royal family, and when I was between twenty-one and twenty-five years old, my parents wanted me to marry a princess. At that time I fell into a lethargic sleep, doctors came and, finding that my pulse had stopped, said: “The heart does not beat, he is dead,” and they wanted to have me buried. I said to myself: Is this really death?’ and wanted to give them a sign that I was alive. My fiancee came with her father, and I heard him asking her to cry a little so that people would think she loved me. 1 never loved him. I love his wealth’, she answered, and I told myself that, if God brought me back to life again, I would start a different life.”

 

How awful it is to be alive and not to be able to tell people you are alive, to see everyone weeping and not be able to tell them you are alive! And how many people have been buried in the same way! There is nothing more horrible than to be buried alive. The greatest misfortune is to remain for days and months in the earth and not to be able to get free from your body: that is the worst prison — hell. If we were pure, we would know when the soul had left the body and we would never pass through such sufferings. The devil is to blame for all these sufferings. But you must not be angry with him. I approve of him in only one respect — that he is very industrious and does not get discouraged. If you chase him out of the door, he enters in through another; if he does not succeed one way, he tries a second, a third, a fourth way. Here is a fine and encouraging trait of his. And God says: “Take an example from him, he is a teacher of men, he teaches them and will teach everybody; when he lies and lies to you, finally you will say: ‘We have learned your lies, and you cannot lie to us anymore.’ “

 

When you begin to suffer, say: “I have not yet passed through the whole process of the grain of wheat, and when your thoughts and your hearts are transformed and become excellent, then you will acquire the image and the likeness of God, and then God will raise you up as the sun restores to life the sown grain of wheat.”

 

(Talk by the Master given on March 23rd, 1914, Sofia)